Soccer Blog

MLS Power Rankings – June 4th

Some movement this week, including some real movement at the bottom making things tough for us a little. Obviously, one week of results does not a season turnaround make, but both Montreal and Philadelphia got very solid results.

CLASS OF THE LEAGUE

1 (2) Seattle Sounders – The Sounders dominating form returned, this time at the expense of Real Salt Lake. The absence of so many players seems to really be hitting the Royals, while Seattle seems to be handling the absence of Dempsey rather well. The struggles of the teams below them leaves the Emerald City club all alone at the top this week.

QUALITY SIDES

2 (3) New England Revolution – A nice little run ends with a thud against Montreal. If you have to lose, do you have to lose to one of the bottom two? This is as shaky a No. 2 as we have had all season.

3 (4) Los Angeles Galaxy – It wasn’t pretty, but a road tie is a good thing, even against Chicago. And their run of form puts them ahead of a really struggling RSL side. We would like to see a little more before putting them above New England, though.

4 (5) Colorado Rapids – Very solid win against the Dynamo. Quite the turn-around from the beginning of the year. This is a very dangerous team.

5 (1) Real Salt Lake – The loss of some major players did not keep RSL from tying a league record to start the season without a loss. Very impressive. But the fact that it was an FC Dallas team that was without Diaz, Thomas, John, Acosta, Jacobsen and Michel, and was playing rookie Tesho Akindele, homegrown players Moises Hernandes and Victor Ulloa makes us wonder about how this club is going to fare during the World Cup. The loss of forward Joao Plata doesn’t help. This is a VERY loose No. 1 spot.

6 (6) Vancouver Whitecaps – What a game against Portland, huh? Oh, wait, you were up 4-1 and let a mid-weeker back in it? Maybe not…

7 (7) Toronto FC – A home win and the return of Defoe has to be encouraging. With New England, RSL and Los Angeles falling out of the top tier, this is a pretty robust group with a lot of potential for movement. Do not be surprised to see a lot of movement over the next few months.

8 (8) Sporting Kansas City – Missing Zusi and Besler sure seems to have impacted this team quite a bit, and the results are following.

SOLID MLS CLUBS
9 (10) DC United – It wasn’t the strongest of showings, but a win at home is a win at home for a club trying to shake off an awful last season.

10 (12) San Jose EarthQuakes – “We’re going out on a limb here for San Jose, but this is a club that has talent and is maybe starting to turn a corner.” Uhm, corner turned. Rather well, in fact. First, recover from giving up a pretty good goal to tie the game, then take advantage of the red card to get a road win in a very professional manner. It may not have been pretty, and more than a few had complaints about the cynical nature of the play in the second half, but getting a road win isn’t easy. Bottom line – two games, both with the home team getting a player ejected, and San Jose won both.

11 (14) Portland Timbers – A good follow-on from their game against New York to win at Chivas USA, but the two games in a week bug bit them and they lost to Vancouver at home. So not out of the woods just yet, but at times, they are resembling a good team again.

12 (9) FC Dallas – What was the straw that broke the camel’s back? Whatever it was, that back is sure broken, to the extent that even Papi took the “no excuses, we are all responsible” public stance, basically refusing to talk about positives, and Pareja is arguably the most positive coach Dallas has ever had. Another red card, another strong effort to overcome adversity, and another run of missed chances. Putting it all on Blas Perez is unfair as all of the attackers are getting chances and finding ways to miss out. As a group, those players have to find the back of the net if this team is going to turn things around before Diaz and Thomas get back.

13 (15) Columbus Crew – So much for building some momentum, but not struggling as much as the teams below them. There is enough here to keep them above the fray below them, hence the move up despite the result over the weekend.

14 (16) Chicago Fire – The game against LA wasn’t the win that they might like, but they have maintained some positive momentum.

15 (11) Chivas USA – THAT was a forgettable week. Two home games, five against, zero for, and surprise surprise, two losses. No Bueno, boys and girls. Both Chivas USA and Houston are on the precipice of falling into the bottom tier.

16 (13) Houston Dynamo – Going from bad to worse for the Men In Orange. When was the last time this group score a goal, or didn’t lose by two or more? As mentioned above, this is a team on the edge of falling into the depths of the league.

STILL STRUGGLING

X (17) New York Red Bulls – This team is just barely holding off Montreal and Philadelphia. Their body of work is all that stands between them and either the Impact or Union passing them. “How embarrassing….” How embarrassing, indeed.

19 (18) Montreal Impact – Win and you fall to the bottom? Tough crowd, obviously. But it also doesn’t help that their body of work leading into this weekend was so absolutely awful.

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This Sports Day Soccer Blog is a partnership with 3rdDegree. This blog will bring together soccer coverage from both the award winning Sports Day staff and the commentary and editorials of 3rdDegree. Owned and managed by media veteran, Buzz Carrick, 3rdDegree has been providing insight and coverage of soccer at all levels since 1997, and in particular, focusing on the Major League Soccer franchise, FC Dallas. The partnership was developed to share content and coverage for the betterment for the fans of soccer in the DFW area.